Schefflera Spots on leaves and stems

[Shampoo]

Hi everyone,
My schefflera leaves are turning yellow and becoming weak and finally, dropping.

I am new to schefflera I water it two times a week. The images of the plant Is attached. What's wrong with the plant?

 

[Beth_B]

Watering twice a week may be too much. Wait until the soil dries out in between watering. They're tropical plants for sure but constantly moist soil will cause yellow and dropping leaves and can eventually kill the plant.

And/or it may not be getting enough light. How much light does it get?

Welcome BTW.

 

[Shampoo]

Watering twice a week may be too much. Wait until the soil dries out in between watering. They're tropical plants for sure but constantly moist soil will cause yellow and dropping leaves and can eventually kill the plant.

And/or it may not be getting enough light. How much light does it get?

Welcome BTW.

Thank you for your reply.
I try to check the soil before watering the plant. I will reduce the water. By the way, are those black spots natural?

 

[Beth_B]

Hi Shampoo, no not normal. Quite possibly fungus from damp conditions or maybe some sort of pest. Try wiping the leaves down with mild soapy water...can't hurt. Check for bug activity...but my #1 guess is too frequent watering.

Best piece of gardening advice I ever got years ago was to let plants dry out completely, as in crispy, between watering. And that being too dry won't kill a plant as long as you give it a drink before it becomes really stressed. Once I started to basically ignore my houseplants they started doing very well! Overwatering is the number one killer of plants.

 

[Chuck]

Looks like scale insects to me. I would spray it every 6 days for 3 weeks with Neem Oil

 

[Shampoo]

Looks like scale insects to me. I would spray it every 6 days for 3 weeks with Neem Oil

I will try spraying that. But these spots are actually so attached to the plant and don't move or something.
I am new to gardening, can this be insects to? Is there any way I can find out if it is an insect?

 

[Shampoo]

Hi Shampoo, no not normal. Quite possibly fungus from damp conditions or maybe some sort of pest. Try wiping the leaves down with mild soapy water...can't hurt. Check for bug activity...but my #1 guess is too frequent watering.

Best piece of gardening advice I ever got years ago was to let plants dry out completely, as in crispy, between watering. And that being too dry won't kill a plant as long as you give it a drink before it becomes really stressed. Once I started to basically ignore my houseplants they started doing very well! Overwatering is the number one killer of plants.

About the lighting, there is moderate light in the place where schefflera used to live. Now, the place has more indirect light.
How can I make sure that it is getting enough light? Is there any standard or something to measure that?

 

[Chuck]

I will try spraying that. But these spots are actually so attached to the plant and don't move or something.
I am new to gardening, can this be insects to? Is there any way I can find out if it is an insect?

That is what hard scale insects do. They are kind of like a barnacle. They attach themselves to a plant and grow a hard shell over themselves. Aside from a systemic pesticide, Neem is the only pesticide I know of that will kill them. After they are dead they will still be attached to the plant for some time but as the plant grows they will fall off. Just google hard scale insects. There is all kinds of info on them

 

[SherryN]

Even I feel I have similar issue ... I have big spots on other plant tooo .. I recently repotted it and kept it in indirect light ... also leaves turning black and falling off ... it was so healthy and now even healthy leaves are turning... so now I kept outside in direct sunlight to see if any change... any suggestion ??